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by William Moore
As recently as March 2026, Fairfax County Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the sale of county land for a data center development in Sully District despite opposition from local residents Fairfax County has a reputation for being opaque and closed in its decisions and of adjusting processes to limit input on those decisions. This recent decision adds to that perception. Fairfax Supervisors have explained that the increased revenue from development in general and data centers in particular is needed. If the case for data center development is clear, then why is there so much – and growing – opposition?
Supervisors should be able to persuade residents on the costs and benefits, including alternatives to particular development proposals. To date, they have failed to do so. If Supervisors argue that data center tax revenue is worth the pollution, noise, higher utility bills and other identified costs, and there is still majority opposition, then they haven’t made the case and are ignoring voters who put them in office. Politicians responsive to constituents would at least delay such decisions pending more engagement. Loudoun County, which is far more dependent upon data center revenue than Fairfax, has mostly eliminated “by-right” zoning for data centers to force an evaluation of each data center proposal, something Fairfax has not done.
Benefits to Fairfax County from data centers are mostly the property tax revenue on the value of IT equipment, which exceeds the value of buildings and land (there are very few ongoing jobs once the center and related substations are built). But IT equipment drops in value rapidly. Under current County tax structure, IT equipment needs to be refreshed every 2-3 years to reset its value for Fairfax to continue to receive meaningful tax benefits. An AI bubble pop or changes in Virginia sales tax exemptions would likely result in a sharp drop in tax revenue. Such an event should be part of any prudent analysis.
On the cost side, data centers are relatively cheap in terms of schools, police, and other direct costs.  However, these are not the only costs Supervisors were elected to consider. It’s easy (but wrong) to ignore higher utility bills spread across the state, water infrastructure costs spread across the county, and growing pollution and health impacts. While more difficult to measure, these costs can be estimated. There are economic models for doing so. These costs are not zero and not insignificant, reducing the value of data centers to the County. None of these costs have been articulated in Supervisors’ arguments or even appear to be part of the analysis. Moreover, the alternative to data centers is not “nothing,” and a correct analysis would include reasonably feasible options to evaluate potential cost/benefits for the County.
Fairfax County Supervisors are deciding by their data center approvals that the “quality of life” number is less than the “revenue” number without much, if any, engagement (a planning commission meeting doesn’t count) or explanation. “We need the money” is not a defensible argument when the counter is “we need air and water.” What is the reality?
For the record, Fairfax County’s comprehensive plan (fairfaxcounty.gov) calls for, among other things,
- Conservation and restoration of tree cover
- Reduction of environmental pollution (air, water, noise, and light)
If Fairfax County Supervisors don’t follow the plan where data centers are concerned at least, is it really a plan? At a minimum, intellectual honesty requires a revision of the plan to meet reality.
During the 2025 Policy Plan update (the first comprehensive update in about 30 years), county staff recommended data center environmental guardrails, but the Board of Supervisors specifically requested changes reducing guardrails. (natureforward.org)
Fairfax County residents increasingly are asking Supervisors to “prove it” in terms of cost/benefits related to additional data centers. Whether the Supervisors do that and act according to constituent interests may determine their longevity in office. Until Supervisors get most residents on board and a general consensus is reached on direction and approach for Fairfax County, the right response to another data center is “no.”
